ever after, bittersweet
by Mongoosey
Summary: A lost remnant of childhood is found in anger. Two friends meet as strangers in this “ever after.”


Disclaimer: Archie and Friends (the comic) do not belong to me. I am not making any money off of this story, and should the creators find something wrong with it, I will remove it from the Internet. Rating: PG-13 for some implied adult situations Summary: A lost remnant of childhood is found in anger. Two friends meet as strangers in this "ever after."  
  
ever after, bittersweet  
  
The warm July sun filtered a dark red through the now lavender clouds. The sunset stretched for miles long, slowly drafting into different hues. Even the sand seemed a-fire with crisp lightening.  
  
She seemed insignificant, a terrific love passing her from above.  
  
This was the summer sunset of her childhood, her jewelry box of secrets. It was hers and hers alone, and her heart swelled with emotions she could not even imagine to understand. Home, it seemed, was the eternal paradox.  
  
So intricately entertained, a noise startled her from her reverie. Through golden wisps, she began to see the outline of a young man, yet the details of his face felt unfamiliar. She peered further into the distance.  
  
"Archie?"  
  
She was always good at seeing in the dark.  
  
The adorable crinkle of his freckled smile banished all coherent thought from her mind. She certainly had not expected to see him at her spot, let alone talk to him. It had been years, and she realized the dangers of an opened can of worms. Some were never meant to know the truth.  
  
"Why, if it isn't Little Elizabeth Cooper all grown up? Never thought you'd find this neighborhood again! Why, some of us didn't think you'd come back!" He chuckled at that last statement, all his words laced with a fake Southern accent. He was a shoulder's length from her own and leaned as if telling a secret.  
  
"But I knew better!"  
  
The raspy whisper of his voice brought back so many memories. A slight fever pinched at her cheeks.  
  
"Did you really?"  
  
"Did I ever!"  
  
Archie lent her a goofy smile, indicating he felt as surprised and happy as he looked. Her hair turned strawberry blonde over the years, and the curve of her face appeared more feminine. The baby blue of her eyes shone with an unexplainable grayness and a few freckles powdered near her nose.  
  
Other than that, she remained, to him, the same as ever: more beautiful, yet Betty.  
  
Elizabeth Cooper expected that. She knew that even denial couldn't quench the sinking feeling in her stomach. His face detected familiarity, and her mind laughed at him. She forced a dazzling smile.  
  
"Well, I'm in Riverdale again, back from another modeling trip. It's really relaxing here. Very nice." She let her tanned hand drop carelessly against her dress. He stared, clearly surprised at the glinting gold around her left hand.  
  
"You're married?" Shone on his face was a mixture of confusion, feigned happiness, and masked sadness.  
  
"So are you," she interjected unconsciously. She quickly shook her head, gold hair spilling in the dark. "Fiancee."  
  
He blushed, apologetically. He held out his own pale hand, again embedded with brown dots. The sunlight of his band wound around the finger. Figures, Elizabeth thought. She was always the dominating one.  
  
"Fiancee, too," he murmured.  
  
Elizabeth smiled apathetically, her sharp eyes piercing. "I know. Veronica Lodge."  
  
"How..."  
  
"Jughead."  
  
Archie nodded his head in embarrassment. Jughead was probably the only person who'd the decency to keep in touch with Betty. Even Veronica, in the long term, had forgotten. He realized that no one really had bothered to keep in contact with Betty.  
  
Determined and shamed, he tried clumsily to patch up the missing pieces within his conscience. He shakily steadied himself as he peered into his old friend's eyes, afraid of the unstoppable changes made over time.  
  
Once broken, thrice fixed.  
  
The startling change in his realization cruelly forced sight into his eyes. All those years apart, she had grown into something different, something more dangerous and beautiful.  
  
Elizabeth gazed at him with solemn fear. His rose-colored glasses were removed finally, and she did not have the heart to keep them on. As she stared into his mind and he hers, they realized something.  
  
They were strangers now, and would have to relearn themselves through friendship.  
  
Night settled uneasily throughout the caution of Riverdale. A pair of shadowed figures stood apart, feet sunken in cool nighttime sand.  
  
Elizabeth wrapped her arms tighter around herself, her body facing Archie and her eyes facing the surf.  
  
"So...what happened to the rest of the gang?"  
  
Archie focused on the pull and pucker of her swollen lips, carefully comprehending the sentence being said to him. He remembered being able to figure out meanings from their conversations just by staring at those lips, saving himself for staring at Veronica.  
  
"Well, Midge and Moose decided to get married (big surprise huh?), but then divorced on account of Midge cheatin' Moose and all. After that, Midge moved away... But you should see Moose's latest girl! Remember Melody from the Pussycats? They just decided to move in together last month and it was crazy! They really care for each other, I think."  
  
He kept it light and short, the way it was supposed to be. A doubt lingered in his mind, yet he was determined to vanquish it.  
  
"And Chuck an' Nancy have a baby girl named Novia, an' she's a real cute girl, just a year old and learning how to walk! Reg, well, for some reason, moved up to California or something like that, but I think we'll get to see him in a little while since he's coming to the wedding."  
  
Elizabeth regarded all of this with mocked enjoyment (and sorrow), although the last bit caught her breath. She regained composure and crisply grinned.  
  
"And Jug?"  
  
"Same old, same old," Archie reported. He wondered why she had asked. Jughead hadn't done anything he didn't know.  
  
Elizabeth saw her chance.  
  
"Jughead's moving in with Ivy," she articulated carefully. Her now iced eyes smirked at him knowingly while he stood, wide-eyed with shock.  
  
"Ivy? But he isn't...he didn't...she's..."  
  
"Cheryl Blossom," she spoke through rehearsed teeth. Her full lips twitched, threatening to burst into malicious glee. "The stripper."  
  
Archie stumbled over his words, barely believing her accusation.  
  
"Jughead and Ivy? It's not true! He's..."  
  
She arched a well-formed eyebrow.  
  
"Better than her?"  
  
"My best friend! He wouldn't..." She pushed a palm toward him to stop his speech. He stopped.  
  
"Midge died three weeks ago of sexual transmitted disease. She had cheated on Moose with Chuck's nephew, who was eight years her junior."  
  
"He was fifteen?"  
  
"Fourteen."  
  
Archie opened his mouth to reply, but again Elizabeth stopped him.  
  
"Pamela Lodge, who you know as Veronica's niece, had been hinting at Midge weeks before her affair, that Moose had been touching her sexually. All untrue, of course, with Moose's unrelenting schedule and all, but Midge believed it. Instead of confronting Moose, who had been away playing professional football, she went to the only person she found...practical."  
  
"But...why Joseph Clayton?" Archie pressed, the information sinking in.  
  
"Pamela's current boyfriend, of course. After a strenuous championship, Moose comes to home to find (on his own bed) his wife being slammed into. He threw her out immediately in a furious rage, yet refused to lay a hand on her. He sent her on her way with a 3 million dollar check and his new Bentley." She paused, unconsciously reaching for a cigarette, than reminding herself that she didn't smoke anymore. "If I were her, I'd have taken the money and used it. Euthanasia." She blew salt air, her demeanor completely shrouded.  
  
The redhead looked on in shock and confusion. Since when did Betty change? A sinking feeling sloshed in the crevice of his stomach, and the hair on his neck prickled.  
  
"And what about you? Bets, what happened?"  
  
She decided to ignore that question.  
  
"Back to Jughead...I don't think you know your friends as much as you say you do, Archie Andrews."  
  
He stepped back, a red blush creeping into his cheeks. His hair flamed indignantly.  
  
"I DO know my friends, Betty Cooper! (she winced at the nickname, this time being a more obvious gesture) I've been here my whole life! What do you mean?" he sputtered angrily.  
  
Elizabeth let the refreshing night breeze comb through her hair, now fluttering gently in the breeze. If she hadn't said that, Archie would have thought she was a mermaid washed in from shore.  
  
She'd already proved herself twice over she wasn't an angel.  
  
She turned her face toward him, as if seeing him for the first time.  
  
"Remember prom, Archie?" Her words sounded slow and deliberate, much like a lioness stalking its prey.  
  
Archie closed his eyes in dark shame. Prom, he remembered, was full of stumbling sensuality. He'd been a virgin all throughout his high school years, yet lost it in an awkward moment of loneliness. The grains of sand beneath his feet shifted, as if pulling him into sunken regret. His moment's vulnerability grasped at Elizabeth's chance.  
  
"After you had sex with my best friend, what did you do?"  
  
His eyes bore a hole through the sand.  
  
"Betty...I didn't...I'm sorry..."  
  
"Elizabeth." Her voice resonated, hard and callused. The slivers of metal shot bitter through her vocal tendons. They reached out and slit his throat.  
  
"Elizabeth Cooper," she repeated, the harsh sound of her voice muffled by the ocean's roar. He shifted, uncomfortable and broken. Every shining ray of hope dissipated into the night air.  
  
"Do you know how it feels? Do you know that everyday, since we were children, I have looked after you, hoping that one day we'll get married? Can you even imagine how much innocent love I'd felt for you? Can you imagine the sharp turn it took when I found out? All those years ended with one, selfish, night."  
  
The ocean kept pounding in the horizon.  
  
Her lips felt bitter with the flow of words jauntily dancing from her mouth.  
  
She sneered, a very unBetty-like sneer, the full evil of emotions shining on her angelic face. Only a tiny speckle of remorse remained in her stature. Archie only faintly noticed the tears dribbling down his face, while he cringed at her last words before she turned, walking off into the enchantment of black.  
  
"Am I beautiful now? Do you want me now?"  
  
He couldn't help but nod, the flicker of love embedded in his heart still raged on, unabashed.  
  
Elizabeth ran.  
  
Betty stayed. 


End file.
